Individuals and organizations often connect their computing devices to a network, such as the Internet, through a gateway. Examples of gateways may include cable modems, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems, wireless routers, network switches, and/or wireless access points. A gateway may connect one computing system or network to another network (i.e., a network that uses a different networking protocol). Gateway devices may also provide some security features, such as a firewall.
Conventional gateways may be limited (i.e., for reasons related to design or cost) to storing software as firmware within read only memory (ROM). The ROM may allow for updates to the firmware of a gateway, which may involve rebooting the gateway. A reboot operation may cause a gateway to break any existing Internet connection. Moreover, a security software vendor may not be able to update gateway firmware on a ROM without extensive collaboration with a vendor of the gateway vendor. These limitations in regard to updating software on a ROM with software from a third-party vendor become especially problematic for security software that involves, or benefits from, multiple updates per day.
Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for executing a software package from within random access memory.